One Week Before the Big Day
Start talking about throwing away diapers. Don’t mention potty
training. Don’t mention anything about the toilet or pee or poop. Just
mention as you’re changing diapers, “On Sunday, we’re going to
throw your diapers away.” This should be level and calm and very
loving. Don’t show your nerves and don’t make it a big deal. The
logic behind this is it’s not wrought with anxiety. Who can’t throw
away a few diapers? Jeez, Mom . . . that’s easy.
This is also a great time to start with big boy/girl talk. Start going
through the list of big kid stuff your child does. Kids love hearing
about what they can do now that they couldn’t do as a baby. This is
preparing both you and your child for the end of this baby portion of
her life.
This particular phase in your child’s life is also a place in which
your language can generate a mixed message. See if these sounds
familiar:
“Who’s my baby?”
“No, honey, that’s not for little kids.”
“Stop that now, you’re a big girl.”
So, what is your child? A big kid, a little kid, or a baby?
It may not seem like that big a deal, but being able to recognize
and address this will come in handy. Sometimes our big kids need
babying, and it’s good when they can separate and articulate that.
One child I worked with years ago came up with the phrase “I need
some baby love.” I thought this was brilliant and adopted it when
training my own son. It worked like magic. Kids aren’t so afraid of
becoming a “big kid” if they know they can have some “baby love”